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Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman! All the world is waiting for you, and the power you possess. In your satin tights, fighting for your rights, and the old red, white and blue! No superheroine before her had so dominated the public consciousness, so it seemed that the theme song for ABC's Wonder Woman series wasn't strictly hyperbole. All the world was waiting for her, but it would be a long time after her January 1942 debut in All-Star Comics #8 that Wonder Woman would rule the airwaves.

Flight represents the ultimate freedom. Consequently, humankind has for centuries regarded the bird as a muse for its mythology, its science, and its fantasy. As a result, a flock of bird-based superheroes have soared through comic books, television, and movies.

In 1990, DC Comics editorial director Dick Giordano was asked by one of his young staff editors why virtually all of the DC superheroes were white: "Because they were created in the 1940s by Jews and Italians who wrote and drew what they knew," he replied.

From Invisibility to Comic Relief

Superhero comic books have mirrored societal trends since their inception, and when the medium originated in the late 1930s, African Americans cast no reflection: Segregation made blacks invisible to most whites.

Erica Smith is a student at Hayley High, located in a small town on the West Coast, some time in the near future. A bit bored and frustrated with the usual issues surrounding adolescence and trying to make her way in life, Smith discovers the costume and personal effects of a forgotten crime-fighting female aviator of the 1940s, Action Girl. Inspired by the Amelia Earhart–like story of Action Girl’s life and bravery, Smith decides to assume the hero’s name and identity herself. Clad in the original Action Girl’s vintage jacket with an “AG” logo on the chest, tothe- knee wrestling boots, and flared skirt, Smith becomes the costumed crime fighter’s successor, leaving the confines of her bedroom hideout to fight against typical teenage angst. Her signature quote: “Action is everything!”

True to its favored theme of alien planets and parallel dimensions, the field of major superhero publishers has a parallel world all its own, in the output of fanzines, small-press ventures, and self-published writers and artists. Though this world is best known for autobiographical cartooning by quirky outcasts (Phoebe Gloeckner, Daniel Clowes), offbeat fairytale fantasy (Linda Medley's Castle Waiting), and other individualistic exceptions to the entertainment mainstream, fan and indie publishing has seen its share of costumed adventurers.

Does the classic superhero headquarters have a glass ceiling? It's certainly true that superheroines have had a mightier task to perform than their male counterparts just to get noticed in the comic-book medium, let alone thrive. Still, over the years the identities of superwomen, even more so than the traditional costumed men, have been subject to change.